This is a subject worthy of some moderately serious debate. If you turn it into a slanging match,I shall close it.
For my thruppence worth, it is arguable that the health risks posed to smokers by their addiction could be considered unacceptable by an employer. The employer would have to successfully argue that the annual medical is insufficient to detect the health degradation caused by smoking, and demonstrate that there have been a number of actual, or potential, incidents caused by the fact of an individual's smoking habit. Whether such a position could survive examination in a court is, at the very least, debatable.
Alchohol was mentioned as a similar candidate for disqualification from employment, but I would counter that many recent medical studies suggest that moderate consumption of alchohol is actually good for one's health. However, an addiction to alchohol is neither good for the individual nor their passengers, and is not tolerated by any airline.
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